The Billionaire's Second Chance

Chapter 9

Austin

After leaving the two assholes in the bathroom, I shook my head in utter disappointment. I can't believe what I heard. I can’t believe that someone in this building has that way of thinking. It's utterly appalling. It goes against the principles that I have read that the company goes by, along with the principles we put in place in all our own business. I shook my head in disappointment and made my way to the elevator to head towards the top floor and made my way down the hall when, suddenly, I spotted a dark office. The familiar scent of vanilla and cherry caught me and made me pause, making me slowly turn my head at the dark room. I made my way into the office and saw pictures of the little boy from downstairs on one of the desks. He was smiling and holding a fish in his hands, looking proud at what he had caught. I picked it up and smiled at myself, seeing me in the picture, literally, but no pictures of whose office it was. There was no name plate or anything to distinguish it. All it said was “Human Resource” on the door. The room gave off a comfortable vibe, which told me that two women were placed in the room. On the other side of the room from the two desks, there was a couch, there for purposes of calming people down if needed. Plants hung around the room, giving it a welcoming ambiance. The scent filled the room, it was putting me in a trance as I closed my eyes with my hands in my pockets, standing in the middle of the room. The smell of vanilla and cherry brought me back to a time when I used to be happy.

Hannah was sitting at her vanity in our bedroom, wearing her black knee-length dress, getting ready for our night out to celebrate our four-year anniversary. I came up behind her and covered her eyes just as soon as she sprayed her vanilla cherry body spray, the smell making my stomach flutter. I placed a single red rose in front of her while I kissed her neck and she arched in the opposite way, giving me more access. I uncovered her eyes and her eyes went wide at the necklace I placed in front of her. A diamond heart on a white gold chain. She turned to me, her eyes flashed with happiness as she hugged me and kissed me, giving us an amazing start to our anniversary.

I was snapped out of my memory by Eli. “What are you doing in here man? You’re kind of being creepy.” He laughed, making me roll my eyes.

“Sorry, there was just something...familiar...about this room.” I shook my head and made my way out. “Come on, let’s go and start this thing. It will be...interesting.” I smirked, remembering the two that were in the bathroom. Boy, are they in for a rude awakening.

“You have that evil look in your eyes, Austin. What do you have planned?” We started to make our way to the conference room, keeping our distance as we saw employees file in. I soon saw the tools from the bathroom pass us, the one guy giving me a dirty look.

“That one there...with the lipstick on his shirt.” I pointed to the asshole who was talking all the crap in the bathroom and was rude to me afterwards.

“Yeah. What about him?”

“He apparently was dating a girl that works in the building. Even though they don’t have a fraternization policy here, he ended up cheating on her with a client, hence the lipstick on his shirt. Besides being involved with a client, he was talking some major s**t about the other girl, who I assume is the kids’ mother, the one who went to the hospital earlier today.” I shook my head and smirked. “Needless to say, he will be the first person I look at to see if he is worth keeping his job.”

“Well, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves, man. Let’s see who these people are and see what we can do to make a more efficient running company. Let him think his job is secure and then, if everything goes as planned, he will end up burying himself and getting himself fired.” I nodded in agreement with Eli, but regardless of what happens, that guy is number one on my list.

We stood outside the conference room when Angela came out to make a phone call. I was about to ask her something when she put her finger up, tell me one moment.

“Yes Hannah. Our priority is to make sure Dylan is okay.” She paused, assuming Hannah was speaking on the other side. “Of course, no you won’t get in trouble for missing the meeting.” She paused again. A smile formed on her face. “That is an excellent idea. I will make sure to bring it up to them and schedule that phone meeting. How long did you say you were going to be there?” Another pause. She turned to smile at Eli and I and nodded. “Perfect. Once he gets discharged, you and Isabella take the rest of the day off. I can help cover your duties today and anything else you can make up tomorrow.” Another pause. I couldn’t help but smile at the interaction with Angela and this Hannah and this Isabella that I am hearing about for the first time. “Only if your sure you want to work from home when he's discharged. I don't want to put too much stress on you." These two must be hard workers and someone the company can depend on, it's employees like that with those values that are extremely hard to come by. "Sounds great love. Give Dylan our best. We will see you in a few days.”

She turned to us and smiled. “How is everything with the little boy? Dylan was his name?” I was curious, beyond curious about this whole situation.

“Yes, good memory. He is doing well. They have him on some medicine to bring down his temperature and they are going to monitor it, but they think he has got some sort of infection that his body was trying to fight off, so he has some antibiotics. I am sure he will be fine.” She smiled at us, but the look on her face was relieving. “That poor girl has been through so much in the last five years.”

“What about the father, isn’t he in the picture?” Eli asked, asking the question that I wanted to.

“No, she won’t speak of the father at all. I don’t know the whole story, but when she applied a little over five years ago, we were more than happy to have her become part of our team. Her credentials were amazing. She graduated from an amazing university in California and did internships at some of the top companies as well. She then came to me after she was rushed to the hospital one day, finding out she was pregnant, telling me she couldn’t accept the job and she needed to find something that would be more suitable for her schedule. That is when I came up with the in-home daycare center. It opened the door to a lot of potential candidates. Most of them are some of our best workers. By giving them the security of day care, we were able to utilize their talent for the company. It’s a win-win situation really.”

“You said the three of them you will see in a few days?” I asked. I couldn’t help but wonder who else was in this person’s life that helped her. If she was with this douche canoe of a man, then who else could be helping her, a sister, or other family member of some sort?

“Yes, Hannah and Isabella. They are both a part of our HR team and they are absolutely wonderful. They have helped mediate and keep everything in line and when we need it, they help with campaigns as well.”

“Cross training, I love it. So, what makes them so good at their jobs where you allow them to help with campaigns? It’s not really heard of to have those in human resources help with projects.” I asked.

“It’s kind of different with Isabella and Hannah. They both went to school for marketing. Isabella majored in it while Hannah minored in it, opposite that of Human Resources. We would be fools to not utilize their talents. They helped in launching some of the best campaigns that we had, but they would never take credit for it. They always said they help guide the team in the right direction instead of doing it for them. It helps the team build their own confidence so they can utilize the techniques for the next client.”

“Well, I cannot wait to meet them and discuss their future with the company.” I grinned, happy to hear of the dedication of some of the employees.

“That reminds me, she came up with an idea because, with everything going on, she wanted to make sure she was still sort of present today.”

 I held my hand up to stop her. “That’s not necessary, I understand her child comes first. Any parent with a right mind would think that.”

“She insists, I’m sure. She wants to schedule a phone meeting with you or Eli with her and Isabella.”

“If she insists, how about later tonight, say around 6pm. I’ll make plans with Eli. Give her our contact information and we will be in touch. Now, let's get the meeting going so we can take a look at everything going on.” We made our way into the conference room and as soon as we walked in, the room went silent. Dozens of eyes landed on us, but the only one I noticed were those of the asshole from the bathroom.

He leaned down and whispered to the guy he was talking to. “Who does this ass think he is?” I heard him as I passed. I shook my head and ignored his comment and made my way to the front with Angela and Eli.

“Attention everyone!” Her voice boomed over the chatter, quieting everyone in the room. “I would like to introduce to you the CEO and CFO of Nicholson Marketing, the company acquiring us and taking over our operations. Austin Nicholson was promoted to CEO not long ago and will be working with every department to ensure we are doing the best we can. Along with the promotion came along the promotion of Eli Sanders to CFO. Please gentleman, tell us about yourselves.” Angela greeted as we stepped forward. The eyes of the asshole went wide, now realizing who he was being rude to in the bathroom.

“Thank you for the wonderful introduction Angela.” I turned to the crowd, looking at all the curious faces in the crowd. “I am Austin Nicholson, your new CEO. I graduated from California State University and went to Yale for my master’s in business. I have been a part of Nicholson marketing since I was 22 years old, starting from the bottom in the mail room and working my way up to CEO. I felt that I did not want my promotion to be a handout, so I ensured myself that I would work for every promotion I received. With taking on this new role, I am excited to bring out changes to Offbeat Incorporated. We will be going through every department and evaluating each person to determine their future with the company, but no fret, we will try our best to implement any changes gradually and as smoothly as possible.” I looked over to Eli and nodded to him, for him to continue.

“I am Eli Sanders, CFO of Nicholson marketing. I went to Berkely for both my under grad and master’s in business management and finance. I am proud to be a part of this journey and I will be working side by side with Austin to ensure everything transitions the way it should. I am excited to not only bring changes to Offbeat but to also take what you have developed and use it in our other locations. Thank you all for the warm welcome and we will be in touch.”

Angela took over the meeting for a bit and went through what the staff should expect over the next few weeks in transition. Once the meeting had convened, the asshole approached Eli and I as we stayed behind to answer some questions.

“Hello, the names Tony. I worked in marketing acquisition in the music section of the business. I essentially work with new and upcoming talent and help provide them with guidance to market themselves in the industry.” He stated, giving us a look like we didn’t know what he was talking about.

“So, basically, in layman’s terms, you help new and upcoming talent promote themselves to be successful. Tell me Tony, does that include taking advantage of the young and vulnerable?” I c****d my eyebrow while asking him. Eli gave me a surprising look, like he couldn’t believe I just called him out on it.

“I assure you; you misunderstood the conversation you overheard, Mr. Nicholson.” He became flustered but he quickly regained his composure.

“I can assure you, I correctly heard everything Tony, my ears are right on point. Talking about your personal endeavors, especially about a coworker with another coworker, is not only frowned upon but is distasteful. Especially the details you went into. So we will continue this conversation when your department is up for review.”

“I would like a chance to clarify the situation at that point, sir. I don’t want my personal life to take any bearing on my business side.” He was giving me a cocky look that I wanted to smack off his damn face. It is men like him that make me hate this industry, especially this sector. The men that use their power and abuse it to get what they want.

I softly smiled at him with a slight smirk and took one step closer, noticing our height difference immediately. You can see his confidence shrink the closer I stepped towards him. “As soon as your business side and personal side collide, it all takes bearing on your future. Now, if you can excuse me, I need to schedule phone calls with those that have not been in attendance for this mandatory meeting.” I turned to walk away, feeling some sense of victory. I can feel his shivers throughout the room. I did what I wanted, I scared him.

“Mr. Nicholson, Mr. Sanders...” He stuttered out as we were almost out the door.

“How can we help you, Tony?” Eli asked with a slight annoyed tone. I don’t blame him, everything about this man was annoying.

“Nothing. Just, welcome to the company.” He smirked. Eli turned to me and gave me a confused look. We shrugged our shoulders and made way to Angela’s office, soon to be mine.